EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-REGULATED LEARNING PROCESSES AND PERSISTENCE TO GOALS IN MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES

Abstract:

The proliferation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and other forms of informal online learning has created many opportunities for learning outside of the formal educational structure (Kop & Fournier, 2010). As of 2015, the number of people who signed up for these courses has risen from an estimated 16-18 million to over 35 million compared to the previous year (Shah, 2015). Despite this rise in enrollment, MOOCs still suffer from exceedingly high dropout rates (Jordan, 2015; Kizilcec, Piech, & Schneider, 2013; Koller, Ng, Do, & Chen, 2013). However, Research suggests that the flexibility and lack of learner-support structures that are typically in place in traditional learning environments coupled with the absence of financial or academic consequences for dropping out of MOOCs indicates that learners’ motivational beliefs and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) strategies become even more critical for learners’ success and persistence in MOOCs (Hood, Littlejohn, & Milligan, 2015; Kop & Fournier, 2010; Little, 2013). This dissertation study adds to the literature at the intersection of SRL in informal online learning settings such as MOOCs and participants’ persistence to goals. Specifically, this study explored the relations between MOOC learners’ motivational beliefs (i.e. goal orientation, online learning self-efficacy, and online learning task value), use of SRL strategies (i.e. time management, effort regulation, peer learning, and help seeking), and self-reported persistence to goals and whether these motivational belief and SRL strategy factors can predict self-reported persistence to goals in MOOCs.